106 OutsideWhen I came out to put my rig in the car, it was super hot!  I cranked up the A/C and by the time we were ready to leave, the car was cool and comfortable. Yay for A/C!!!!

As I started to pull away from Skydive Idaho, I realized I had absolutely no idea where we were headed. I put the car in park and called West Plains Skydiving School. According to their website, they are open on Thursdays.

After just a couple of rings, a woman named Kara answered the phone. I explained our situation. Matt programmed the GPS with the address of the drop zone - 346 miles away. Our earliest arrival time - 6:00 PM. Kara said she'd call the drop zone to see what was going on and I should call back at 3:00 PM Washington State time.

Both of us were starving, but there wasn't anything near the drop zone. The GPS was leading us out to a major highway and near the on ramp for 84 we found the Sand Hollow Country Market.

After looking over the menu, we decided to order a chicken wrap and an order of tater tots to go. We grabbed cold drinks from the cooler and were back on the road 15 minutes later. Eating and driving is not always easy, but the chicken wrap was a good choice. When Matt opened the box of tater tots, we couldn't believe how many were inside.  There were enough for four people! We don't eat tater tots often, but these were the best we'd ever had.  They were cooked to perfection - not greasy - not soggy - just perfectly crunchy and delicious.

Columbia River

At some point, I got a call from a woman named Rhonda from Meadow Peak Skydiving.  Rhonda told me they were working on getting things together for Friday at 10:00 am.  I explained our departure from Seattle was round 8:00 PM and asked if it would be possible to get in the air earlier.  She said she would check and call me back.  

At 3:00 PM, I called Kara. Our new ETA at the drop zone was 5:50 PM. She said that we could jump if we were willing to pay for two extra slots.  With us, there would be 7 jumpers and they needed 10 to put the plane up. If we covered two extra slots, she'd cover one.  The locals would hold off on drinking until we arrived.  We agreed to pay the extra slots.

Rock Formations

Just after I hung up with Kara, I got a call from Rhonda. Montana was a go! OMG!!! What exciting news! From here on out, we'd be on a tight schedule. We wouldn't have anytime to waste in Washington State.

When we stopped to use the restroom, Matt took over the driving. We didn't have the luxury of time to stop, but we got a couple cool pictures from the car. At least the scenery along the way was interesting!